|
|
Carcharhinus plumbeus
– Lower Risk Near Threatened
Taxonomy
|
Kingdom:
|
ANIMALIA
|
|
Phylum:
|
CHORDATA
|
|
Class:
|
CHONDRICHTHYES
|
|
Order:
|
CARCHARHINIFORMES
|
|
Family:
|
CARCHARHINIDAE
|
|
Scientific Name:
|
Carcharhinus plumbeus
|
|
Species Authority:
|
(Nardo, 1827)
|
|
Infra-specific Taxa Assessed:
|
See Carcharhinus plumbeus (Northwest Atlantic subpopulation)
|
|
Common Name/s:
|
|
Assessment Information
|
Red List Category & Criteria:
|
LR/nt ver 2.3 (1994)
|
|
Year Assessed:
|
2000
|
|
Assessor/s:
|
Shark Specialist Group
|
|
Evaluator/s:
|
Musick, J.A. & Fowler, S. (Shark Red List Authority)
|
|
Justification:
|
A large, slow-growing, late-maturing and low-fecundity coastal species, common and widespread in subtropical and warm temperate waters world-wide. An important component of shark fisheries in most areas where it occurs, although catch data are sparse. Severely overfished in the western North Atlantic, although the stock still contains over 100,000 individuals and supports an active and now tightly managed fishery. A management plan in US waters implemented in 1993 has led to stock stabilisation and the beginning of recovery.
|
|
History:
|
| 1996 | - | Vulnerable (Baillie and Groombridge 1996) |
|
Geographic Range
|
Countries:
|
Native:
Albania; Algeria; Angola; Australia; Bahamas; Bahrain; Belize; Benin; Brazil; Cameroon; Cape Verde; China; Colombia; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Costa Rica; Cuba; Cyprus; Djibouti; Ecuador (Galápagos); Egypt; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Fiji; France; Gabon; Gambia; Ghana; Greece; Guatemala; Honduras; Hong Kong; Indonesia; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Iraq; Israel; Italy; Japan; Jordan; Kuwait; Lebanon; Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; Macao; Madagascar; Malta; Mauritius; Mexico; Monaco; Morocco; Mozambique; New Caledonia; Nicaragua; Nigeria; Norfolk Island; Oman; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Portugal; Qatar; Réunion; Sao Tomé and Principe; Saudi Arabia; Senegal; Seychelles; Somalia; Spain (Canary Is.); Syrian Arab Republic; Taiwan, Province of China; Tanzania, United Republic of; Togo; Trinidad and Tobago; Tunisia; Turkey; Tuvalu; United Arab Emirates; United States; Venezuela; Yemen
Vagrant:
Congo
|
|
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:
|
Native:
Atlantic-eastern central; Atlantic-northeast; Atlantic-northwest; Atlantic-southeast; Atlantic-southwest; Atlantic-western central; Indian Ocean-eastern; Indian Ocean-western; Mediterranean and Black Sea; Pacific-eastern central; Pacific-northwest; Pacific-western central
|
Population
|
Population Trend:
|
|
Habitat and Ecology
|
Habitat and Ecology:
|
C. plumbeus occurs inshore and offshore. It is a coastal-pelagic shark of temperate and tropical waters, found on continental and insular shelves and in deep water adjacent to them, and oceanic banks. It is also common at bay mouths, in harbours, inside shallow muddy or sandy bays, and at river mouths, but tends to avoid sandy beaches and the surf zone, coral reefs and rough bottom, and the surface. Depths range from the intertidal in water barely deep enough to cover it to 280 m. Although common in inshore environments, it does not ascend rivers into fresh water. It favours the bottom, and normally is not seen at the surface unless travelling in water so shallow that its large first dorsal fin comes out of the water. This species has an annual migration cycle along the Western North Atlantic seaboard of the United States, heading south for the winter and north for the summer. Seasonal temperature changes apparently are a prime cause of these migrations, but they are strongly influenced by the pattern of currents and locally by upwelling. Southward-migrating sharks often travel in large schools. In the Western North Atlantic pupping grounds are in temperate waters, in shallow bays and estuaries of the east-central USA. The sandbar shark is primarily a predator on relatively small bottom fishes, with some molluscs and crustaceans taken. It does not consume garbage and mammalian carrion as a rule, unlike some other members of its genus (Compagno 1984).
|
|
System:
|
Marine
|
Threats
|
Threats:
|
Severely overfished in the western North Atlantic. It is caught with longlines, hook-and-line, and set bottom nets and is also fished with rod and reel by sports anglers as a game fish. It is utilized fresh, fresh-frozen, smoked and dried salted for human consumption; the hides are prized for leather and other products; the fins are prepared as the base for shark-fin soup; and the liver is extracted for oil (rich in vitamins) (Compagno 1984).
|
Conservation Actions
|
Conservation Actions:
|
A management plan in US waters implemented in 1993 has led to stock stabilisation and the beginning of a recovery.
|
|
|
